Friday Fluff, sort of. And sort of an open thread also.

So here’s what I’m wondering, as I type while meanwhile my younger son naps and my older son tells me “Mommy! Keep looking! Mommy!” because he’s sure that if I just watch this episode of Word World for the thirtieth time I will finally come to appreciate it as much as he does.

I’m wondering how best to introduce a thread intended to accomplish two things:

1) Provide an open thread, because it seems like it’s high time. At least, a number of Shapelings have had interesting links to offer in the comments, prefaced with an apology for being off-topic but rightly allowing as how there was no other place to put it. They are great links, so please put them here!

2) Gently suggest, without intending to be overly directive, that one possible Friday fluffy topic of conversation on said open thread might be your funny internet things that have stood the test of time? By way of background, in the last couple of days I’ve just for the first time been introduced to Auto Tune The News (over at Fetch Me My Axe) and and Homestar Runner (thanks to Fillyjonk via email) and now it’s clear to me that everybody else in the world knew about them a long time ago. So I am just personally curious about what else I’ve been missing. Not, of course, that it’s a duty of Shapelings to bring me up to speed on newfangled things like the Infermashun Sooperhighway and Home Pages and automatic horseless carriages and whatnot. Actually it was Fillyjonk who suggested it, and if SHE were writing this post she’d have zillions of links to things that would make you pee your pants in laughter. But she’s not feeling well (so do send her get-well wishes in the comments, if you think of it) and so you get me, and I have nothing to make you pee your pants, I’m sorry to say.

Well, Word World has just ended and my presence is now being loudly requested at the swing set. (Yes, our new house has a SWING SET! LOVE!) Oh, and hey, the younger son has just now woken up. Well, lovely. Okay, look, obviously my environmental conditions this afternoon didn’t end up allowing me to write anything coherent here; hell, I even resorted to the tired old writing-about-your-writing-process thing. (AND THAT WAS WHEN SHAPELY PROSE JUMPED THE SHARK! later generations would say.) But you all are really smart — surely there’s something here you can use as a spark for a conversation that’s actually, um, interesting. Go to it!

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224 thoughts on “Friday Fluff, sort of. And sort of an open thread also.”

DAD FREAKING BLAME IT, I forgot the icon again. Fillyjonk, I gotta go get my kid out of bed, but I will take care of it, I promise! Don’t you dare fix it — you aren’t feeling well and you’re at work and you shouldn’t have to fuss with it.

As long as we’re getting enlightened about newfangled stuff, could someone pretty please explain to me exactly what the phrase “jumped the shark” refers to, and how it came to be if you know? I hear it all the time and have no context for it.

Also, feel better, FJ!

Also also, BIG LOVE for Homestar Runner. And I don’t think I have anything to add to the funny pages, well, wait, except I do, because everybody should know about Kate Beaton’s rollicking and hilarious comics if they don’t already: http://harkavagrant.com/

IN OTHER NEWS. I will be in Scotland in September, getting my postgraduate degree. The wrinkles have been smoothed, now I need only a student visa and a plane ticket. ROCK. ON.

Dumfries, where I’ll be studying Folklore at the University of Glasgow! :D

Have I stopped blathering about this some? I can’t believe there’s a corner of the ‘net that hasn’t heard this saga in painstaking detail yet… I’ve been out of this site for a while though, in all fairness, since it’s been all that’s on my mind to talk about. XP We really had some trouble sorting out my application so it was uneasy days for a bit!

Oh, no no no, you’re right… and now I realize I remembered all of that on a second’s reflection except where in Scotland, lol. And as I recall – maybe wrongly? – it was up in the air about when it would start or if it was going to come through. So I’m so glad to hear it worked out!

Yeah, actually, my comment was so quickly dashed off, I see now that I had the air of someone who’s just gotten new information. Ewps. But after half a second I totally remembered about the folklore, remembered that it was where Caitlin was (wait, right?) but “Glasgow” was the piece that slipped my mind.

Oh I don’t need get-well wishes, I’m not sick, just stomachachey + the usual muzziness from not eating because stomachachey. I usually get out of work early on Fridays so that should mitigate things just fine! I was just writing a tricky thing for work and didn’t feel up for writing anything else.

Yes it was a huge mess! Someone thought there wasn’t going to be a Folklore program, and told me so, and then the head of the department was like WHUT and then I had to make a bunch of emails and phonecalls and then also I am completely stupid about how student loans work so I was like eeeeep what if I can’t get a Stafford and then there was just huge emo drama because by this point my entire life and worth as a person was hanging on this so I was like omg omg omg and then… *pant, gasp*

So anyway! Not that I’m excited or anything (except that I totally am, a lot, hence the psycho babbling ha), but today finally I got word– it’s there, I’m in, and I get to study what I want! *dance dance dance!*

I’m at the top of the highest cloud today. Anybody needs any stars handed down to them or something, I can hook you UP.

:D

I can’t wait! I’ll be in Dumfries and I’m gonna go see the Peter Pan Garden!

Then I’m gonna see if I can get a tour of those catacombs under Edinburgh, and take pictures of Greyfriar’s churchyard!

There will be MUCH updating of my YouTube and I started an account at Dreamwidth solely for the purpose of keeping the folks back home up to date on my Scotland adventures. So. Much yays to be had here in Sugar-land.

Jump the shark refers to the moment when a show or other idea or piece of media stops being good and starts being trite, trying-too-hard, cheesy, or otherwise crappy. It comes from the Happy Days episode when the Fonz literally jumps a shark on his motorcycle.

Since it’s an open thread: I’m commenting here. I probably shouldn’t be. I don’t think I’ve had the guts to before. Because I pretty obviously don’t belong here.

I’m fat, and I believe deeply in the ideals of FA and HAES for other people. But I’m still stuck at that cognitive dissonance level of “But that’s not okay for ME”. I’m just BAD at this stuff on a personal level. So bad that I recently had bariatric surgery. As in, I’m still recovering. So… I don’t know. I guess I consider myself an FA ally? Although I’m sure there are people here who would rather vehemently take exception to even that, since a strong case could be made that by having that surgery I’m really an anti-fat ally.

Sandra, everybody has to start somewhere on their journey. It’s not even a linear journey, we’ve all got our moments, you know? I think you’ll find there’s room here for people of all bodies, and room for those who still aren’t quite sure they’ve decided it’s really, truly okay to love theirs just the way they are. Those are hard things to bunk. We’ve all had it driven into our skulls from a young age. I refer to myself as a flabulous phatass all the time but that doesn’t mean me and the mirror are always at peace.

I wish you a swift recovery and most of all, I wish you the strength to love yourself. Really and all the way. And I hope you keep hanging out here and commenting, because, well, it really helps! Did wonders for me.

As long as we’re getting enlightened about newfangled stuff, could someone pretty please explain to me exactly what the phrase “jumped the shark” refers to, and how it came to be if you know? I hear it all the time and have no context for it.

It came from a Happy Days episode where Fonzie jumps over a shark while water skiing I believe. It’s used to point out that a show or whatever else has basically gone to hell in a hand basket.

Also, my brother was playing the Sims 3 last night and he made a fat sim. He became tired of her being fat for some reason, so he put her on the treadmill and she became thin, for about three days before being fat again, and so on and so forth. I found it hilarious that the sims creators thought of this while making the game.

SugarLeigh: Hey, I live in Edinburgh! I’m an American, married to a Cornish guy and I’ve been living in the UK for 9 years (Edinburgh for 8). So if you need any advice on where to visit, I’d be happy to help!

Dumfries is beautiful – if you get a chance to drive to Edinburgh from Moffat (in Dumfriesshire), that road (the 701) is a great drive through the best bits of Dumfriesshire. It’s like the Highlands in miniature.

Any kind of folklore in particular you’re interested in? I’m still trying to finish my archaeology PhD (full time work and caring for my husband with cancer is taking up most of my time at the moment, but hoping I’ll do it someday soon!).

I don’t know if I mentioned this here yet because I was kind of waiting for an open thread so as not to be all “HEY GUYS GUYS IT’S ALL ABOUT ME” but…I graduated last month with a first class Honours degree in Genetics. :D :D :D :D :D

DO NOT THINK I WILL NOT USE THIS POWER FOR FA/EVIL. MWAHAHAHHAAHAAAAAAA. *rubs hands*

But after half a second I totally remembered about the folklore, remembered that it was where Caitlin was (wait, right?)

Yes! SugarLeigh, wooooo! The offer stands for email fun if you have any questions or anything. Don’t think you’re going to get away without meeting me. I MUST HAVE SHAPELING JOY. :D

Hee. Seriously though, there’s Starbucks and Costa Coffee (do yous have that?) and Beanscene, which are all chains, and I don’t know about Dumfries but Glasgow has approximately 319458697 lovely wee independent coffee shops.

In response to Mary’s brother and the fat Sims. I have been playing Sims3 a lot, and I always make move the slider over to make my Sims heavier and more muscular. I kind of like having that as my ideal more than having the waif-like Sim. What is kind of cool is the fat Sims get to wear the same clothes as the thin ones, close just stretch around them!

ewwww, Starbucks! :( I’m sorry Starbucks lovers, but their coffee is so bitter. I am NOT very coffee sophisticated, I like mine with cream and sugar until it’s hardly coffee anymore. The best cappuccino in the universe is that vanilla stuff that you get from a machine at the gas station and it’s more like “vanilla sugar drink which is hot” than “coffee drink” really. I mix it with hot cocoa half the time. XD

And yes I’m all about contacting you lovely folks in Scotland… er… but how shall we exchange email addresses without attracting spam-bots and stalkers? Are any of you on LJ? The Ning community? You could PM me…

SugarLeigh: Oh, god, coffee in the UK. Well, remember that it’s a tea-loving nation. I would suggest finding friendly little Italian restaurants for the best coffee. Local independent coffee shops can be great, but they can also be pretty hit or miss, particularly outside of bigger cities. Coffee Republic and Cafe Nero are both pretty decent chains but not always easy to find; I would stay as far away from Costa ‘coffee’ as possible!

Buying coffee to make yourself is expensive here too – it all comes in tiny little packages that last me less than a week. I now buy bulk beans online and have a little grinder that leaves coffee dust all over my kitchen counter! It’s so sad.

I’m starting law school at the University of Minnesota (Twin Cities) in about a month, and if anyone in Mpls has anything they think I need to know (or any law students/lawyers, ditto), I’m open. :) (We haven’t moved yet. Husband doesn’t have a job yet. Grr.)

I have to say that since I found Sarah Haskins/Target Women from a thread here at some point (I think it was a link to the yogurt one? but I don’t remember what the post/thread was about) it is one of my all time favorite internet things and I’ve actually shared it with friends (which I don’t tend to do) and it makes me crack up every single time (and I’m not a big comedy person).

In other news, I found out that there’s a fat girl flea happening in Oakland, CA in a couple of weeks. It’s August 9, and clothing donations are requested by August 2. If you want to donate or attend, check it out on the BigMoves calendar.

SugarLeigh: Congrats on the GU gig. I did my field research for my PhD in Glasgow and truly, it is the city of my heart. I hope you love it there too!

Go to IJ Mellis the Cheesemonger (if you eat cheese, that is), and the Oran Mor bar (if you drink drinks, that is) and have one of each for those of us who can’t right now (that’d be me!). Also, there are many lovely wee coffee places around the West End, no doubt you will discover your favorite.

On a different note, I lurked the site for a few months before I started posting a little while ago but never did introduce myself and it makes me feel a bit like crashing a party, so here it is. My name is Mariana, I’m from Argentina and I’m studying architecture. So hi shapelings! And please pardon my english, it’s not always perfect.

I absolutely love PhD comics (Piled Highe and Deeper) and since I don’t know how to add the link without the entire address showing up (can someone tell me how to link like Nina did above?) here it is: http://www.phdcomics.com/comics.php

On the topic of finding out where phrases came from (thanks for the posibility of that intro SugarLeigh), does anyone know where “And that’s what she said” started?

Hi, I’m mostly a lurker, but just wanted to say hi and thanks to all the insightful posters here.

I just moved from the Twin Cities (where I lived for 15 years) to Chicago. Stephanie, any questions, let me know. I know the TC quite well.

I also struggle with internalizing what we’re learning here. I am at the stage where I refuse to diet, but haven’t figured out what my body needs and wants so I resort to eating what’s easy (lots of cheese and crackers).

I am a big walker, so if anyone in Chicago is looking for a walking partner, let me know.

questionyou at gmail dot com

And, if you haven’t seen this floating around the Internet today, you should really watch it.

I have to post this link, I’ll go back and read the other posts too, promise!

I just read this, and it was such a moving example of humanity in daily actions I had to share it with someone, and Lo, there was an open thread!

Anyway this woman noticed that a mortally ill patient responded to her singing, and has started a movement called music-thanatology, where harpists go into rooms and play improvisions that merge with the patient’s patterns of breathing, heartbeat and so forth. It sounds like such a nice way to go, listening to beautiful music.

I’m glad so many people are posting funny/happy links, because I’ve been cranky and exhausted all day. I’m realizing how important enjoying food actually is. For the last two weeks I’ve ranged between vaguely queasy to seriously nauseated (morning sickness), and the idea of eating turns my stomach. I’ve got to do it, but it’s either not pleasant or outright gross. It’s making me feel very thankful for usually enjoying food and eating. Disliking something you have to do several times a day stinks.

That’s interesting, Piffle … when my grandmother died, some years ago – she’d had a stroke, but hung on for days – we sat around the bed and sang to her, mostly spirituals and hymns. It helped us, too, gave us a means to communicate and support one another without the added stress of trying to converse hour upon hour.

I picked up this little stovetop espresso maker at Albertsons for about ten bucks last week, so far it makes pretty good coffee; but cloudy for some reason. It all happened because I was at a rummage sale and picked up an interesting gizmo for fifty cents that I figured out later was a coffee grinder. Cutest little blue thing with a handle and a cup with a screw thingy that the handle turns and out comes very fine coffee grounds. My five-year old loves it. Okay, have coffee grinder, need coffee maker, so got cheapest one I could find. So far it’s pretty strong, but not bitter. I think the cloudyness is fine particles of beans, but they don’t leave any texture on my tongue, so I can live with that. I looked at a more expensive stovetop maker today (almost fifty dollars!) and it looks basically the same but a bit bigger. The filters and stuff look like they have identical holes. I was thinking about using some round coffee press filters in them, but don’t know how that would work with this technology.

I lurk here daily, and have posted a few times, but haven’t ever actually said a proper hello, so I’ll take this open thread as my opportunity to do so. I love reading this community, indeed I’ve passed on the wonder to others, and would love to make the transition from lurking to posting, so am aiming to get over my crippling fear sometime soon and actually participate. Open threads are therefore lovely, so, hi there. :)

As for the internetz, a recent favourite has been . My Life Is Average , based on FML, but with completely normal events, and fanTASTic results. A few of my favourites include:

‘Today, I opened my closet. Didn’t find Narnia. MLIA. ‘

‘Today, I looked at a cover of a book and judged it. There were no real consequences for this action. MLIA ‘

‘Today, I set my clock ten minutes ahead to trick myself into getting up earlier. I wasn’t fooled. MLIA ‘

I don’t know why I find it so lolsome, but I rather do. :D

And there’s always Toothpaste For Dinner and the three other webcomics it’s attached to, Natalie Dee, Married To The Sea and Superpoop, which are occasionally absolute GENIUS.

See also Dallas Clayton , little drawings and writings by a lovely fellow, which is occasionally funny, often sweet, and sometimes so exquisitely true and beautiful that I don’t know what to do with myself.

And I’ll end this ridiculously long hello right about now, and hope that my understanding of html isn’t as horrendous as I think it is.

I hope it’s okay to plug *myself* here! I’ve been getting a blog off the ground in fits and starts over the last while, and would love some Shapeling readers. (Okay, or ANY readers who I don’t know IRL…) :-) You can find me at cancrit.blogspot.com.

So piggybacking on what Sandra said, since this is an open thread…I kind of have the same issue. Sorry, I dont want to hijack the thread, but I do want any words o’ wisdom. I definitely believe in the *concepts* of HAES and FA, but personally have trouble embracing my own fat. Actually I have rather a lot of self-loathing issues (witness: years of self-injury!) and its hard for me to separate what is unhealthy body obsession (let’s cut that fat off!) and what is legitimate health concerns. I guess I can’t find the line. Or trust my body. Or something.
I am not a frequent commenter here at Shapely Prose but have been reading every day for years. So thanks for the open thread, A Sarah.

In funny news…everyone should watch Web Therapy, with Lisa Kudrow, on hulu. Really splendid.
If you are kind of a dork and just want to laugh hysterically, do a YouTube search for gymnastics accidents. Lord. Every time, I roar.

I don’t know if anyone is still commenting, but since this is an open thread, do any of you know of any good plus size maternity shops online? I live in podunk Arkansas, so I’m going to have to shop online if I want anything usable.

I love all these links. They make me happy and often I snort with laughter-giggles. (I especially loved the MyLifeIsAverage which is new to me entirely…this is great “Today, my final project for my woodworking class was due. I was supposed to make a chair but hadn’t done anything. I spent the next 30 minutes making a backscratcher. I got a B. Best decision ever. MLIA.”)

I don’t think anyone has mentioned Daisy Owl yet and that one usually makes me crack a smile.

Hey, I don’t mean to be a turd in the punch bowl, but I’ve got a health worry coming at a VERY bad time (new city, new job, new house, husband who’s just left his job to be the SAHD, kids having just left their friends and support networks) and I’d appreciate prayers/kind thoughts/good vibes/etc.

The galling thing is it’s a symptom (recurrent erythema nodosum) that could indicate:

-nothing
-nothing of consequence
-that I’ve got a chronic autoimmune something-or-other, or
-something staggeringly awful and possibly deadly (unlikely, but you can imagine how I’ve been scaring myself on the internet)

And of course since we’re here in a new city, I’ve got no relationship with any doctor. And if it’s nothing I don’t want to be all, “Hi, new colleagues! I’m A Sarah! The most important thing to know about me is my propensity to weird outbreaks of painful leg nodules! And you?”

I have family in Minneapolis so I head there about once a year. The only places I can recommend are downtown. The biggest one being “Hell’s Kitchen” (although I’m curious if the people who actually live in Minneapolis are tired of the hype it gets.

PHd comics are hilarious and after my husband suffering through one (ok, we ALL suffered through it) I thoroughly appreciate them. Most of the rest of my comic value is contained in the body of a small pug dog who lives with me; pug videos on youtube cause hilarity and much confusion in our house. And a bit of shameless self-promotion never hurt; I’m kind of funny (well, my stories of accidental self-harm are) and I blog at omchelsea.blogspot.com… follow me and kick my backside if I get slack.

I’m a big fan of putting appeals into obscure saints, on the theory that unlike Our Lady of Guadalupe, they can’t be all that swamped with intercession requests. So I’ll totally send a couple novenas on your behalf in the direction of St. Restituta or St. Philomena or St. Theodora of Indiana.

(I love being RC in Medieval Saints Mode….)

Okay, really seriously, many good wishes your way, and prayers every which way.

Linked from same comment thread, check out “What Would Miley Do?” I have no idea how old this girl is, but she’s just so funny! “Do you really need internet notoriety when your face is already on party napkins?”

ok my guilty little secret of humour is this http://questionablecontent.net/ just about the greatest comic series on the web you really gotta start at the beginning with them and read the whole story it is pretty dang awesome!!

Ok, I love questionable content most of the time, but I gotta warn y’all, it’s not really entirely fat friendly. One of the characters who is slightly less extremely thin than the others is fairly regularly referred to as fat. I have yet to see anyone drawn there who isn’t thin.

Threnody,
With a few qualifications – it was 7 years ago, I wear a 20 – I found that the JC Penney online had nice cotton maternity clothes, and though I wore them much more often than regular clothes, I didn’t hate them at the end. My biggest complaint was the pregnant women don’t get pockets. Sometimes larger than usual plus-size clothes can work as maternity – for me, especially leggings and big shirts.

Yikes A Sarah, I hope it’s nothing and I’ll definitely be praying for you. *hugs*

*takes DLB of attention* I’m having some health problems of my own lately too. My joint pain has gone from slight twinges in my thumbs once in a while to near-constant agony in all of the joints in my hands, feet, ankles, and wrists. This progression took place over the last 6 months, so kind of oddly fast. I’m scared that it might be Lupus (I have a few other symptoms). It’s so bad that I’ve called in sick to work a few times (thank God for voice dialing) because I was unable to get out of bed. And of course what does the doctor say? “Take an advil if it gets really bad.” Yeah, ok, but I’ve been doing that and it still hurts. Now what? “Take another. The liquigel extra strengths are pretty good.” GAH! I can’t wait until my regular doctor gets back in town, this lady subbing for her is a moron. I’m sure the real reason she won’t do anything is she doesn’t believe that someone my age could have joint pain.

In other news, I have a big birthday coming up in about 2 months. Yep, I’m turning 20. Woo!

A Sarah, if it helps at all, an overwhelming amount of the time weird symptoms are meaningless and self-resolve. I speak as a Fully Ascended Master of Weird Symptoms – I may not have the fat acceptance thing down pat, but I have been to hell and back with weird symptoms and related fears and yet here I am.While it is doubtless useless to tell you not to worry, I wish I could take it away from you somehow. Be brave, be strong! Please keep your friends here appraised of your medical adventures – hope you are feeling more chipper soon.

I have so little to share that isn’t already here! I am so uncool.
*sniff*

However, for those Shapelings looking to explore some of the provocative issues raised here on the blog in greater depth, and also for general comfort and support (have I been watching too many lingerie commercials?) I would like to emphatically recommend the

@Carolyn – Though the topic itself, and its coverage (really, WSJ??) are harbingers of doom, the “reality show” variations on the Cankledom in comments are, IMO, hilarious.

@A Sarah – (((hugs)))
I once went to the doctor with what, in my panic/family’s history, I thought was lymphoma. It turned out to be strep.
*lights candles for a confirmed ‘case of the absolutely nothings’*

Annie, at 25 I know all about being young and having painful joints. My right knee, hip, shoulder, elbow, wrist, and index finger are really something else. Luckily I can chalk most of it up to overuse/repetitive motion/sports injuries, but that doesn’t mean they I’ve found effective treatment yet. Advil, Tylenol, aspirin, etc. don’t do jack, and Vicodin (which helps sometimes when it’s really bad, but is not really a solution) makes me itchy, talkative, and unable to sleep.

Annie, I’m sitting here giving the hairy eyeball to your dismissive substitute doctor. If you’re in such pain you can’t get out of bed sometimes, that deserves more attention than a plug for Advil Liquigels. I’m so sorry. Here’s hoping your regular doc comes back early!

Good thoughts and energy and sunshine going out to A Sarah from another chronic worrier who understands about jumping to the worst possible conclusion.

This is not a funny thing, but rather a thing that makes me feel more hopeful about the world. I don’t really follow the fatosphere except for SP, so don’t know if this made the rounds there but here it is:

Basically, people leave anonymous notes places telling people that they’re beautiful the way they are, etc. (public bathroom mirrors, dressing rooms, etc.). There’s more to it than that, but that is the gist.

Oh, Homestar Runner! I was introduced to that website my freshman year of college, and it pretty much changed my life. My friends and I still run around singing “Trogdor! Trogdor! Burninating the countryside, burninating the peasants…” Ah, good times.

Most of my internet faves have already been mentioned! I love Homestar, Potter Puppet Pals, and PhD comics. I like to go on YouTube and look up music videos, and watch things like Charlie the Unicorn and Bananaphone (careful, that song gets stuck in your head very fast!) I definitely need to check out the other links, as if I need more internet distractions, lol.

Thanks for posting the forum URL! I somehow lost it and felt too embarrassed to ask where the button was on the blog!

Annie, have you lived in the Lyme disease hotspots? We lived for a while in upstate NY and my husband has terrible joint pains that debilitate him too. We didn’t do any hiking or such, but there were deer in the neighborhood. He never had the symptomatic rash, so we couldn’t catch it early. Anyway, long way to say that you should ask your regular doc about it when she gets back. Also ask for a referral to a pain specialist, they can help you.

@caitlin: Congratulation! You have every right to be proud of yourself!
@ a sarah: will keep you in my prayers, hope it turns out to be nothing.
@ vanessa, I’m in the same place, and yes, I’m reading Kate’s book. Recently got back bloodwork with icky cholesterol numbers and doc wants me on “lowfat, hi protein” diet. (heavy sigh). So yeah, vanessa, I get it.
Open thread time? My exercise of choice is Jazzercise, and today I went to a demo performance at a local fest. On stage I realized I was the fattest one of the 20 up there. I started with that same self-hate crap, and (thanks to the LFTF book) was able to switch to, “Hey, I’m showing that fatties can do Jazzercise too, and maybe someone in the audience needs to see that.” So that made me happier.
Thanks for listening, guys.

De-lurking to say I found – and purchased, natch – Screw Inner Beauty at Borders, here in Wellington, New Zealand. I was fully expecting to have to order it in, but checked instore and there were six copies on the shelf in the “Women’s Health” section. So exciting!

I don’t know Sticky, but thank god for BBC America (apart fromYou Are What You Eat). I could listen to British accents all day and not get bored. Most of them just ooze sex appeal. As a matter of fact, I went to dinner tonight for a friend’s birthday and one of the guests was a lady originally from Southampton who volunteers at the local nursing home. She had a lovely voice.

I bought an ice cream maker and recipe book yesterday and I made the best amaretto ice cream ever. *drools* But the best thing about the book is the reminder of how awesome it is to be finished with diets forever. Compare:

@SugarLeigh Other people have already explained the origin of the phrase “jumped the shark” further up the thread. For a while there, “nuked the fridge” was posited as an alternative phrase with the same meaning. You need to have seen the most recent Indiana Jones movie for that to make sense though.

I can relate to icky cholesterol numbers. Am already on medication for slightly high BP (everyone in my family, fat and thin, has high bp), but my doctor is pushing statins hard. The side effects look uggo, though – memory loss?? hair loss?? (more worried about the memory than the hair but neither one seems optimal). Would love to hear what the tribal knowledge here has to offer about cholesterol lowering meds. Links, anyone? (is it okay to ask this in an open thread or am I too off-topic?)

Harriet, I really don’t know anything about cholesterol meds. But I do know that like fatness, in a lot of cases it seems pretty murky that how much cholesterol you eat has very much to do with your blood cholesterol levels. So I can readily believe that people might need to take medication in order to lower cholesterol in their bloodstream.

I like barley in soups, stews and if you like to bake substituting a tenth of the wheat flour with barley flour adds a very nice taste I think. And people have been eating barley a lot longer than they’ve been taking statins.

I gather that today is Lurker’s introduction day. So, I de-lurk to say hello and a heartfelt thank you. My wonderful SO sent me your link (along with several others, including Fatshonista) a few months ago. He was at a loss to console me with my utterly hopeless clothing situation. And after another shopping trip that ended in tears, he took the time to do some research and, to get to the happy ending, introduced me to FA. I was at my lowest body image point in my life, and had just spent the past two months on an OCD diet, the first of my 35 years. He helped me find you and completely new attitude about my body and myself.

I can’t tell you how much you all have changed my life. My body was my secret shame, I tried to hide what I thought was my devastation with my inability to be thin. I also considered myself pretty bright. It is such a shock to me that I didn’t let the obvious about me, my family and my life guide my body image, instead of the outer world’s unrealistic expectations. My emotions over-ruled my logic. That balance didn’t return until I found FA and HAES.

So, thank you so much. It is an honor to call myself Shapling. It is a relief to call myself Shapling. It is a life-savor to call myself Shapling.

This is totally random, off topic, whatever else you want to call it, but body image wise I have always loves my bikini body(as its the middle of summer I thought this would be sort of relevant). Even through the time when I had an eating disorder, I only wanted to be thin to be acceptable to society. I couldn’t look in the mirror and not go “Damn I look good.” Which really confused me. Magazines kept telling me that it’s normal to hate your beach body-so get thee to a gym. And so I immediately thought, is there something wrong with me? Am I extremely vain for not seeing anything wrong with the body staring back at me in the mirror? So I thought I must be messed up for loving myself. Society has made it normal and even encouraged to trash on one’s body so so did I. But then I found the shapely prose and other size positive places/websites and one day I went to the beach and instead of thinking the guys staring at me were judging me or thinking I am ugly my immediate thought was they can’t stop looking at my gorgeous bikini body. And this my lovely fellow shapely proser’s was my size acceptance breakthrough.

Lately I’ve been doing some serious room cleaning in preparation for the new semester. Doesn’t start until late August, but hey, I’ve got a ton of crap in here to sort out and limited spoons per day to do it with. Part of the crap is a closet full of clothes that don’t fit. I’m sure this is a familiar story to most of us.

I need room in that closet something fierce. This is a job too big for one, so Mom’s helping out. We agreed that everything I don’t love and that doesn’t fit should leave. Stuff in the first category was relatively easy to sort out. Into a garbage bag it went! (Folded, so as to make the Rescue Mission* folks’ job a bit easier.) Mom and I had a difference of opinion on the stuff that doesn’t fit, though. “We’ll just pack this up and put it in the attic. Once you’re over this medication change, you can concentrate on losing the weight again!” Arrgh. “Mom, I told you I’m not dieting. I would like to exercise more to get some strength and stamina, but I will. Not. Diet. I am not going back to Weight Watchers.” “Of course not, I know medication changes are hard for you. We can concentrate on getting healthy after you’ve adjusted.” Head, meet desk.

Conflict of any sort in real life is difficult for me. My first reaction is to back down, agree or keep silent. It’s taken years of therapy for me to even disagree politely with someone else. So I let the issue go for the time being.

Today I was attempting to clear the floor for vacuuming. I eyed the “pack up” piles of clothes. ‘Self, you know what it took to fit into those size 12s. It took at least three years of hardcore WW. Are you going to inflict that on yourself again? NO! So put those pants in the Rescue Mission bags already!” Which I did. And it felt… liberating. I will no longer feel the presence of those awesome capris and the comfortable yet professional trousers taunting me from their place of storage, whispering about how I used to fit into them, that I could wear them again if I was a good girl and went back to Weight Watchers.

I still couldn’t quite bring myself to purge the 14s and 16s. (Right now I’m rocking 18s.) But I made a start. Baby steps into FA.

* = Rescue Mission is a local Goodwill-type program. Its main attractions for me are the fact that they will come pick up donations, and they run the local women’s and children’s shelter.

@Electrogirl: I really super-duper admire what you’ve shared here today about packing up old clothes! I think I got rid of most of my 12s a little bit ago (I am also currently rocking 18s), and I have in the last day or two made the resolution that I’m going to pull out all the 14s — the ones in my closet and the ones whispering derisively from storage and get them to Good will.

I haven’t yet found the gumption to follow through on that decision, but it’s a step by step kind of thing. Congrats to you on the steps you’ve taken and thanks for being an inspiration to help me make a little bit more progress in my own FA journey!

@ Harriet, I’m on BP medication, which is working. I was on a statin (for hi cholesterol), which I was told was “well-tolerated”. After about 9-12 months I was so achy I began to worry I had fibromyalgia or MS or something, I could hardly get up. Hubby thought it might be the statin and suggested I quit for 2 weeks, and I felt much better. Took another pill and was down for the count. So I quit the statin, started eating oatmeal and fish oil and niacin, but still have icky numbers (it turns out not enough of the latter 2, so I’m fixing that).
@Volcanista, I agree that cholesterol is not all diet, but the doc doesn’t seem to like that theory, as I’m supposed to be on a lowfat/hi protein diet (no specifics). And I don’t want to go thru all the statins to find the one that DOESN’T hurt. Right now I’m contemplating going to a thyroid doc. But it’s all so depressing! FA and HAES aren’t too helpful when you’re supposed to diet FOR your health! And I exercise 5-6 times per week. yuck…

heh emgee, if you think anecdata will win over your doctor, you can tell him about this thin woman you “know” (you can leave out the internet part) who had borderline-high cholesterol and was put on a low-cholesterol diet by her doctor. She stuck to it really well, and became anemic and her cholesterol shot through the roof. So they took her back off the diet and she went back to normal. Then, years later, she spent a few years on a very high-fat and high-protein and no-complex-carb (but not no-carb) diet, which helped a lot with managing her illness. She ate butter and eggs and bacon, ALL THE TIME, and her doctors were nervous about her eating so much of the Evil Foods, but her cholesterol results? Described by the same doctors as “perfect.” Repeatedly.

Electrogirl, it’s really hard to pack up old clothes, harder than it should be! I agree with MezzoSherri: you don’t have to do it all at once. The nice thing about deciding not to get rid of something today doesn’t mean you can’t decide differently tomorrow. It took me literally years to get rid of most of my clothes that I didn’t like/didn’t wear/didn’t fit – it took a move to give me that final push.

Yes, this means I still have some. But most of them are like my prom dress: they’re not really clothes, they’re garments which are souvenirs. I feel more than entitled to keep some of them around.

I hope all the new space in the closets will be filled with clothes you adore and feel terrific in.

Also, for a bit of YouTube funtimes, which I unfortunately can’t link for everyone because YouTube is blocked here (*sob*):
1) search for Eddie Izzard, and particularly the Death Star routine. Makes me pee my pants every time!
2) Summoner Geeks video. Its full of geeky awesome.

Bonnie–and on top of that, I recently read that it’s not the cholesterol but the artery inflamation that causes the cholesterol to stick–and the inflamation is caused by things like soybean oil–have you ever tried to find a salad dressing that DOESN’T have soybean oil? yikes! Guess we have to all make our own.

I have low cholesterol. I also have a low body temperature always. Around 96 F degrees. Every year during my physical checkup in elementary school I would go and the doctor would say “Hm, temperature is a little low today”. then tell my mom to make me exercise more because I was too fat. Why not check back on the previous time to see what it was then????? ARGH. I have terrible circulation even though I do cardio 5 times a week and ride and walk 7 days a week (no car….) My hands and feet are skeletal skin and bones. In winter I have no feeling in my hands and feet for 3 months. And in spring and fall (heck and summer and winter) I will randomly have numbness in various fingers.

I tried to get a diagnosis back when I lived in the US multiple times but I was told I needed to exercise more and that was why my circulation was so bad and my temperature so low and that if I lost weight and became “healthy” my problems would go away. Now that I’ve been living overseas and exercise every day and practicing HAES I’ve lost 120 pounds and am a “normal” bmi (eyeroll), my symptoms have…..wait for it…..GOTTEN WORSE. My temperatures is even lower now because I have less fat. My circulation is WORSE.

1) I’m excited that I get to volunteer at Charis Books and More in Atlanta when Marianne comes on Aug 27 to talk about the book! Whoo-hoo!

2) Embarrassed to admit this, but I’m a bit nervous that Marianne will be disappointed to meet me, because I’m thin. I’m still in recovery from an eating disorder and I must say that I have found this site to be enormously helpful. Really! It’s so powerful to hear people talk about numbers in a way that does not give them power, but just acknowledges that numbers are numbers. I hope that made sense…lol

http://femination.blogspot.com – I’m trying to build a supportive, inclusive feminist online community-sort of like this one, only that the topics are more random. I want people to send me their own posts, links, artwork, recipes, poetry, events, etc.

I’m a little embarrassed, but I’m a little afraid that she’s going to be disappointed when she meets me, because I’m thin, but I want her and Kate to know that this book and site and all of you guys have really helped me in my battle against ED (eating disorder). I’m going to do a post soon on my own blogs on why the FA movement is important for all those in recovery, including thin or average folks.

1) I’m in total agreement with the poster who said Torchwood: Children of Earth is amazing. It’s one of the best done psychological horror/scifi shows I’ve seen in a long time. I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach for five nights in a row in the best way possible.

2) So you know the new Fox reality dating show More To Love that promises to be a weekly exercise in humiliation? Well, I’m active on some TV message boards and I keep seeing fat women getting pissed off at this show, not because it’s stupid and exploitative like all these kinds of shows are, but because the bachelor on that show is a “homely lardass” (their words, not mine). They’re mad because they think this means Fox is implying that because a woman is fat, she can’t get a “really hot” guy. And then I got flamed for pointing out the hypocricy of those kinds of statements. *head desk* AAARRRGGGHHH!

Hi all, just delurking to say thanks to all for the excellent blog. The discussions here really helped me in a conversation I had with my sister about size discrimination by airlines.

To add to the fluff: Gunnerkrigg Court is a totally kickass webcomic, with occasionally mind-blowing art, if you like fantasy and boarding school stories. Huh, that makes it sound like Harry Potter, which it totally isn’t. Start at the beginning but be careful, you might get hooked like me.

My brother wrote this, and it went viral and was so popular it broke his old website. And while I’m banging on about how great he is, anyone who’s likely to be in Edinburgh over August should go and see his play: http://brokenholmes.co.uk

Holy Fuck. Maria Bartiromo was just on The Today Show talking about the recession/recovery and out of nowhere she said that an obese person costs a company four times more than a smoker. In other words, don’t hire fat people!

“Some iced coffees being sold on the high street contain as many calories as a hot dinner, a cancer charity warns.” — if my dinner has as few calories as they suggest, I am going to need to eat another one afterwards. Fucking hell.

I agree, Ailbhe. Their definition of an evening meal, calorie-wise, is weird. My evening meal is my largest meal (YMMV, of course –my in-laws still have the farm tradition of the largest meal being mid-day). If my largest meal of the day were only ~500 calories…. I’d be back in crazy-restricting-fainting-land.

(And seriously, no-one thin gets cancer if they don’t smoke? WTH?? Not to mention a huge helping of why the fuck is a cancer charity monitoring coffee calories in the first place?)

I’ve noticed people’s skewed sense of what a “reasonable” dinner it calorically before. I mean, I’ve pointed out to several friends (not hardcore dieters – more the perpetual “Well, I’m going to eat a sensible diet” types) that if you ate three “reasonable” lean cuisines a day you’d be eating well under 1,000 calories and they were shocked, like they’d never actually multiplied it out before and instead just wondered why they’d eat a lean cuisine and be hungry an hour later.

Ailbhe — See, I’d want to avoid those coffees because if I had that much sugar and caffeine in one sitting I would Bounce Off The Walls and possible have heart trouble. And I don’t like coffee. But yeah, that’s not nearly enough dinner for even the “recommended 2000 calorie diet” on the little nutrition panel. If dinner is your biggest meal of the day, I’d expect it to consist of somewhere between 700 and 1000 calories on an average day.

And hi, thin person here who got cancer and doesn’t smoke. I got cancer because…sometimes people’s thyroids decide to revolt and try to take over the world. It doesn’t even run in families as far as they can tell. But “we don’t really know what causes it” is really scary so giant coffees seem to be their new scapegoat.

Isn’t it, though? My (very thin) husband doesn’t understand why I get sometimes get upset just because I hear about how awful, expensive, and disgusting I am every time I turn on the television or go to the supermarket. Oh, not me specifically – just people who look exactly like me. (eyeroll).

if you ate three “reasonable” lean cuisines a day you’d be eating well under 1,000 calories and they were shocked, like they’d never actually multiplied it out before and instead just wondered why they’d eat a lean cuisine and be hungry an hour later.

@LilahMorgan – Is it possible you’re presuming a certain level of logical thinking that is just … notably absent in the larger population?

I mean, I’m cynical. But I really do believe food marketers and Professional Healthcare Concern Trolls — like the ones that aired “Obesity Costing Billions” on the 6:00am news today — really do not want people thinking critically.

Because that way, it’s much easier to slip those simplistic messages right past the conscious mind.

On a lighter note, Digger! http://www.diggercomic.com Utterly fabulous webcomic (also available in dead-tree form), including strong fat side characters and a main character who is…well, a wombat. So she’s wombat-shaped. But definitely not your standard scantily-clad warrior princess.

Hey, I just had a doctor appointment this morning and it looks like it is NOT any of the things that had me panicking, though it might very well be early/mild Crohn’s because of the… errrhhm… delightful gut symptoms. (SM, am I remembering that this is what you have?)

As he said, “Well, I can’t prove that you DON’T have lymphoma, because there’s no way to prove conclusively that someone doesn’t have lymphoma; but I can tell you that lymphoma doesn’t act like this, and Crohn’s does.”

Anyways, I’m following up with a biopsy to confirm that what we think is erythema nodosum really is erythema nodosum (otherwise known as big ouchy leg bumps and joint pain). And he drew blood for blood work, which I’ll have the results of tomorrow after 5 PM.

Sniper, doesn’t surprise me about The Today Show. It’s like if they don’t have one “fat people are sucking this country dry” story or comment a day, their broadcast is not complete. Give it a rest Today (and tomorrow, and the day after that, etc.)

Last Friday night, Fox 45 Baltimore’s big story of their 10 pm newscast was about a new procedure that uses a laser to get rid of fat cells by liquifying them (so you can pee them out). 6 treatments of this is $3000. You do lose inches, but if you don’t keep up dieting, you will regain those inches, of course! The woman they showed getting it done went down from a size 16 to a size 12, but she still isn’t satisfied and will be doing more treatments for an extra $1500. She said she “doesn’t want to see other people’s fat rolls, so why see her own.” I think she should stay locked up in her house.

Well it’s not an absolutely nothing, but I’m happy your diagnosis didn’t confirm your fears. And as a card carrying member of the Catastrophizing Crew (call us if you can’t think of all the bad things that could happen!) I know how terrifying weird and painful symptoms can be.

Best wishes for a speedy resolution to leg bumps and uh… other symptoms.

(is it wrong that I keep wanting to order “Lessons from the Fat-O-Sphere” from Australia because I like the title “Screw Inner Beauty” more? Maybe I can print out a big copy of that cover and glue it to my American one.)

Lessee… Robot Chicken’s Star Wars homage/parody always makes me laugh. And Eddie Izzard… ooh! I know! My friend introduced me to a quiz show in Britain hosted by the indubitable Stephen Fry. It’s called Quite Interesting, or QI, for short. It quizzes people on obscure trivia, not on the expectation that they’ll answer correctly, but on the hope that they’ll give an interesting answer. For example, how many moons does the Earth have?

A huge THANK YOU to everyone who’s offered me conga rats and wished me luck! Shapelings rule! I am sure to succeed, especially with peoples like you behind me. ;D

A Sarah, I would give you the biggest (most gentle and non-ouchy) hug in the world if I could. In the meantime, I will offer you a special blessing:
Healing Magics Healing Magics Healing Magics Healing Magics!

Chant that daily into the mirror until you laugh. I hope it makes you well! :D

So it was only a matter of time until my love affair with Scotland started seeping into my writing (well, not counting that story I did a few years back in which El Chupacabra, Bigfoot, and the Loch Ness Monster were shapeshifters). So now one of my characters has become Scottish and I found myself looking for ref photos of clan tartans so I could put him in a kilt, and then looking up Scots Wha Hae on YouTube! XD

I’m glad, A Sarah, that it’s not the terribleness that you thought it was! I can sympathize with the gut probs, as I have them myself-not Crohn’s, but IBS, which is still NOT FUN!!! *sigh* but liveable lol

Well, thanks all. Fun little success story: when I read that people with Crohn’s lose weight as a result of, you know, not wanting to eat and not being able to digest what they do eat sometimes, I thought, “Oh crap! I don’t want to lose weight! I like how I look! Plus I just bought a bunch of new clothes for the new job!”

(That’s ABSOLUTELY not to slam anyone who’s smaller than me! No, it was more of a sense of, “Dang, it always messes with my self-perception when my body changes very quickly — due to pregnancy or weight loss/gain or whatever –and I don’t like the perception-messing.” Still, it did show me that FA thinking had sunk in more than even I’d realized, that I didn’t think of weight loss as an unqualified good. So that was nice.) :)

Whoa, SugerLeigh… I… mercy! *fans self* He’s quite the hunk. What tartan is that? My forbears are Cunninghams (“Over Fork Over” being our clan motto, which I love!) so I know that one but I don’t know any others.

*giggle* I think so too, A Sarah! When I designed Nolan (that’s his name, Nolan Douglas) I pretty much decided to make him embody every trait I would love to someday marry date, right down to physical appearance. You can’t see it because of those big sleeves he’s got on, but he’s got a big ol’ squishy belly to go with the massive chest and shoulders… SWOON! And OMG, the facial hair! *pant*

If you scroll down just a little bit from the picture there is an artist commentary bit where I explain it in finer detail, but the basic gist of the tartan he’s in is that I designed it myself. :)

On coffee: I can handle all that sugar and caffeine, but I’d prefer to drink GOOD coffee, and get my sugar in non-dairy cake form. To minimise – ah – gastric distress.

On Crohns. About the only good thing I know about it is some people find chocolate helps it. Chocolate is cheaper than real drugs. (And yeah, losing size suddenly through illness isn’t fun at all, whatever the nurse at pre-op told me).

And there was a tag-on about how iced coffee drinks are a health threat (don’t use them, don’t care about them, but the logic bothers me): Logic: the drinks are high in calories which makes you fat . And obesity is the second largest cause of cancer, so iced coffee drinks cause cancer. What’s next? Cookies? Cake?
Apparently the problem isn’t that obesity kills us but that we take too long doing it, which costs the rest of the world too much money.

Huh. Every single news program has a story about how fat people are ruining the economy. What the fuck is going on?

Yeah, today all the local and national news broadcasts had stories on the OBESITY CRISIS OOGA BOOGA! (I’ve always wanted to type that). I couldn’t even stomach it; I had to change the channel while watching my beloved Brian Williams. It was just too much for me to handle right now.

OMG, TV Tropes is a total time suck. You’ll start reading, and you won’t stop for HOURS. And the best part is that you start making a NetFlix queue of stuff you read about there. notthatI’veeverdonethatmindyou.

Oh, there was something on the news about the evils of iced coffee? That explains the random dude at work who went out of his way to tell me about the calorie content of my boss’s and my customary Friday Starbucks as I was carrying in the door last week. No, really, my iced chai has calories in it? Srsly? I thought it was made of (diet) sunbeams and rainbows.

Okay, I have to vent. I spent the weekend with my brother and sister-in-law. And, although I love her, it was difficult hearing all weekend how her upper arms were “meaty.” I am teh death fatz, and my upper arms look like lovely large rolls of chicken sausage. She is probably a size six. Vomit.

Then, I went to yoga class last night. The woman who runs the studio and teaches the class is fat. This is one of the main reasons I started going to this place. Anyway, yesterday she had a friend visiting from out of town who was in the class. In the introduction time at the beginning of the class, this friend went on about how she had lap band surgery and lost a bunch of weight so now she can do all of these yoga poses she couldn’t before. Then the fat instructor started talking about having a six-week seminar in which people tracked every penny they spent on food. The teacher went on to say that her son was telling her that she could lose her belly, which she indicated that it was something she wanted to do.

AARRRRRRGGGGHHH!!!!!! This is the EXACT reason I didn’t attend other yoga classes in other gyms/studios. I HATE THIS. I actually ended up asking them to stop the weight loss talk because I have an eating disorder. They did, thankfully. But oh my God. Isn’t yoga about accepting your body and being mindful of it AS IT IS RIGHT NOW?????? WTF??? What used to be a safe place for me doesn’t feel so safe.

I feel so angry and discouraged today. I want to go back to the yoga place because it is so, so good for me physically and psychologically. But I don’t want to hear weight loss shit. What I’ll likely do is keep asking them to stop this conversation every fucking time they do it. Hopefully they’ll get the point someday. And if they don’t, well, I guess I’ll have to find another place. Sigh.

Glad it’s not the worst case for you, A Sarah, though Crohns is no picnic from my limited knowledge of it (two decades ago,I knew a guy who had it).

Rebecca, that’s just awful. I’m so sorry to hear how badly you were treated, your anger is justified (not that you need me to tell you that!). Whatever, I hope that now you can get a proper diagnosis and then put some of that protective weight back on so you feel better. On a more immediate note, perhaps some silk undergloves or silk undersocks would help? Just to keep you a bit warmer, my Dad has Reynaud’s disease or syndrome, and his hands turn blue in the slightest cold; and silk gloves under regular gloves help him.

I realize I’m a bit late on this, but I don’t know where else to share it:

I’ve been struggling with negative self-talk lately, mostly about my body. I’ve gained some weight since my eating-disordered days of college, and I really noticed the difference in my shape in some recent pictures. I try to visit Shapely Prose as often as possible for innoculations against the self hate that bubbles up.

Here’s the good part and what I wanted to share with other folks who might be struggling with negative self-talk: I was visiting my sister in D.C. and helping her care for my nephews (4 and 2 years-old) while her husband is recovering from a motorcycle wreck.

I was having fun chasing them all over the city. At the Air and Space Museum, we decided to check out the Planetarium. When the lights went down, both nephews got scared and asked me to hold them. As I held them both on my lap, I realized…my lap is just the right size for holding my nephews.

I mindfully thought about the bodies of loved ones who held me growing up: my rail-thin farmer grandad. My tall grandma who grew thinner and thinner with illness. My other grandma who was shorter than me when I was ten. My stepdad, whose large belly caught my tears when I cried on his shoulder through teenage angst. My mom, who has a shape very similar to my own.

I love each of the people inhabiting these bodies. I would never say to them the things I say to myself on my bad days.

Which is all to say: my body is just the right body to hold the people I love.